For King & Country [Mass Market Paperback]

Robert Asprin (Author), Linda Evans (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 2003

What SAS Captain Trevor Stirling doesn't know may kill him--along with every man, woman, and child alive. His mission: follow a terrorist into the year A.D. 500 to stop a murder. If the fanatic succeeds in killing Artorious, later to be known as King Arthur, the Briton Lord of Battle and the most revered icon of British history, before his greatest military victory, the time-space continuum will fracture and the world will be destroyed....

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Fast-paced, historically informed....Extraordinary."--Publishers Weekly

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 544 pages
• Publisher: Baen (November 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743471687
• ISBN-13: 978-0743471688
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,325,729 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars sutenhotep, January 24, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: For King & Country (Hardcover)

This book takes alternate history and time travel to new places. Scientifically transfering only consiosness to the past, where you share the body with the present inhabitant.
Place in the mix a former SAS officer, recovering from injuries suffered in Belfast, a rogue Orangeman set to kill off the Irish and English pre-emptively, and a heroic woman working for the IRA.
The pace is quick, and little time is spent groping, more is spent doing. An excellent read.

4.0 out of 5 stars What was it like in the Time of King Arthur?, March 3, 2008

By 

Grant Reed (San Antonio, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: For King & Country (Mass Market Paperback)

This book attempts to answer that question, using the method of Time Travel?

Science Fiction is really the art of applying unknown, unlikely, or future science to human stories. In order for a book to be good, it has to draw you in. I like stories that deal with the interaction of humans with one another, and this started out as a story of troubles in the United Kingdom, between the IRA and the Orangemen. Into this conflict the science, in this case a time transfer device (not a true time machine) which is capable of moving one's consciousness to a host in the selected time period is brought.

There are three primary protagonists that utilize this technology to move to the time of Arthurian legend in the British Isles. The technology chooses a host that is most compatible with the personality of the person traveling. After that, science is rarely dwelt upon.

As it is of Arthurian legend, one of the people is hosted by Ancelotis (Lancelot), and one by Morganna (Morgan la Fey), and the final one is hosted by a minstrel. The three protagonists are Captain Trevor Stirling of the SAS, a member of the Cumann na mBann (an organization I had not previously heard of), and a radical Orangeman. Is Captain Stirling going to be able to stop actions that could change the future? Well that's the basis, but that is not the interesting part of the book.

What is interesting is the authors' take on the land and the primary characters of Arthurian legend. By taking the perspective of a standard 20th century person, and throwing them into an unknown world, they are able to point out some things that might have happened that we don't know about. This is very good speculative fiction, and in the authors' writings, perhaps the time of Arthur was indeed much more advanced than historians believe. Maybe the dark ages concealed something that we only know of in legends.

This was an enjoyable read that allows one's imagination to soar with reasonable leeway. I quite enjoyed it and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys the legends of Britain's Arthur.

4.0 out of 5 stars More Time Travel fun from Robert Asprin & Linda Evans, November 13, 2007

By 

Scubafiend "scubafiend" (St. Petersburg, FL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: For King & Country (Mass Market Paperback)

Running a close second to Time Scount and The House that Jack Built I enjoyed this new time travel adventure and hoped it would become a series.

Unlike the Time Scout series, there is only one time jump in this novel. With elements of suspense and intrigue, we join SAS Captain Trevor Stirling as he travels into the past to King Arthurs time to trap a suspected IRA agent.

As with the Time Scout series it is a fun, fast read with imaginative writing and enjoyable characters.